Fieldtrip Chapter 1
by thegoodpill
Summary: After the war, Toph and the entire gang including Suki and Mai live together in the royal palace of the Fire Nation. Finally Toph gets her fieldtrip with Zuko!
1. Fieldtrip Chapter 1

**Fieldtrip: Chapter 1 – Leaving**

While she threw her tiny ball against the door and back into her hand, she heard a few birds whistling. The sunshine came through the window, landing onto her back. The weather was nice, great even, yet she stayed there, on the floor. She didn't feel like going outside, let alone standing up. Today was her day to relax, but lately every day seemed to be relaxing day. Not that she cared.

She let out an annoyed sigh as she felt someone walking towards her, almost running. She was glad it wasn't Sugar Queen, though anyone who would disturb her now irritated her. She hoped he was going to call her for dinner, but the fact that he was a little heavier than normal, she guessed that wasn't the case. She threw her ball once again against the door and kept it in her hand after that, waiting impatiently for him. The faster he was in, the faster he was out. A few seconds after she'd stopped throwing, he knocked at her door, as expected.

"Come in." she said, letting notice how annoyed she was.

He swung the door open and threw a bag right in front of her, she recognized the bag. It was hers. Why did he have her bag with him, and why did he suddenly throw it towards her? With an uninterested expression on her face, she lifted an eyebrow.

"Get up," he said firmly, "We're leaving."

She snickered amusedly, what was he talking about? "We're _leaving_? _We're_ leaving?"

"Yes."

She jumped onto her feet while she took her bag in her hand, throwing it over her shoulder. "Great! Where are we leaving to?" She was simply playing with him.

"Your parents."

The amused look on her face vanished immediately. She let her bag fall onto the ground before she sat down again, a frown forming on her face.

"No, thanks."

He walked towards her and took the bag in his own hand, holding it out in front of her. "That wasn't a suggestion."

Her frown deepened as she started to lose her kindness. He was getting closer to be punched by the second. "Why do you suddenly wanna go to my parents? You don't even know my problem with them."

"I talked to Katara." She shocked. "She told me everything."

"Someone's gonna get into trouble today." she mentioned through gritted teeth, her hands clinged together.

"You're gonna have to leave that for later, 'cause now you're going with _me_."

"Why would I say yes?" She bet he couldn't give any decent reason.

"Why wouldn't you? This is your chance on a life changing fieldtrip with me, plus, you can solve your problems with your parents."

Though the expression on her face didn't change, she grabbed her bag from his hand and threw it once again over her shoulder. "Fine."

She could feel his heartbeat increase from excitement, it seemed that he'd totally ignored her way of answering. She started walking towards the door, but he stopped her by turning her around. What was wrong with him?

"Uh, Zuko, I don't know if you know, but the door is _that_ way." she said, pointing behind her.

"A fieldtrip wouldn't be a fieldtrip without adventure, right?" A confused look appeared on her face. "And besides, Katara would start asking questions if she saw us leaving."

"Wait, you mean she doesn't know we're going away?"

"If you _want_ her to know..."

"No way!" she shouted happily. "Let's sneak away!"

"I'll lead the way." He passed her as he walked towards the window, turning to look at her when he stood with one foot onto the window sill. "You ready?"

A wide smile crawled onto her lips while she put her bag around her body, jumping onto the window sill as well. "I can't be more ready."

After he smiled contently at her, he jumped out of her room. While Toph did the same, she couldn't help but giggle. Even though her room was on ground level and jumping through the window wasn't really an adventure, she couldn't help but finding it exciting. She was sneaking away to have a fieldtrip with Zuko, they were going to her parents, true, but what mattered to her was that Zuko was with her. It was odd she thought that way, she didn't really know much about him, and neither did he about her. But there was something inside him that made her trust him, something so small that she seemed to be the only one who could sense it. Not that she minded that.

They were running towards the home of their transport, their _temporary _transport, like Zuko'd said. His servants had made the beast a kind of house for him to live in, and it was made out of wood. Every nice and pretty warm day he sat there, that being the only place it wasn't too hot for him. He had everything he needed there, food and water, and if he wanted to get out to 'go for a walk' or to fly for a while, he could do so. As they both arrived at the entrance, Toph decided to wait outside, wood was her enemy.

"You go get him, I'll wait here."

The Firelord nodded before opening the huge door a bit and going inside. A loud growl was heard and short after that, a loud shout too. She laughed when she heard the sound of a huge tongue licking something, or better, _someone_.

"I told you not to do that with me!"

Another soft laugh escaped her lips before everything went silent. Every few seconds some groaning was heard, it seemed that crawling onto Appa wasn't such an easy job. She couldn't blame him though, he wasn't used to flying yet. About ten minutes later, the doors swung open and soon after six giant legs were walking over the ground, sending strong vibrations to the blind girl's feet. She smiled widely as she went to stand next to the bison, her head lifted to where she thought Zuko was. He was probably steering Appa, and hopefully he knew what he was doing.

"Hey, Beast Boy," she yelled, each hand at one side of her mouth, "You sure you know how to handle Twinkle Toes' pet?"

"Just get on, Blind Bandit," he replied, "Or do you want me to go without you?"

"How do you know my fighting name??"

"Guess!"

"She's going to pay for that." she said loudly to herself before grabbing Appa's fur and climbing onto him.

"You do know that I'm gonna have to help you with that, right?" he asked while reaching with his hand for her.

She grinned as she took his hand, getting pulled into the saddle, which she grabbed immediately. "I order you to."

He grinned back at her before placing him onto Appa's head again, the reins in his hands and his face straight. A few seconds he stayed like that, not moving a muscle and saying nothing. Toph let out a sigh.

"You don't know how to fly with him, do you?"

After helping her onto Appa's head as well and getting used to the fact that she had to hold his arm because she was afraid, they'd finally got to the point to lift off. Those two words that she'd been hearing for way too long from the Avatar were shouted loudly, making Appa growl and fly. It'd shocked the firebender at first, though he didn't want to admit it. When they'd been flying for about fifteen minutes, they'd decided to get into the saddle, certain of the direction they were flying to.

"So what else did you find out about me?" Toph asked, her arms around one of the holes in the edge of the saddle.

He was sitting at the other side of the saddle, his back against the edge and his arms crossed. His legs were wide open, like every guy's legs.

"Nothing," he replied, shrugging, "I only know your parents kept you inside because you seemed too helpless to them, and becoming The Blind Bandit was your way to be free."

"What was _your_ way to be free?"

He almost stopped breathing. "What?"

"I became The Blind Bandit, what did _you_ do? What happened to you anyway?"

"It's a long story."

"I think I can manage to make some time for you."

"You're too kind."

"I know."

He suddenly noticed the wind blowing through her hair, letting her bangs fly away from their normal place, in front of her eyes. It was now that he saw her eyes decently, and he'd never seen more unique ones than hers. Her hair was beautiful too, and it looked so soft.

"Do you actually know where my parents live?" she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"You told me it was that way."

It remained quiet on the saddle as Zuko was pointing to his right, unaware of how stupid he was being. Only when Toph let out a cough and waved in front of her eyes did he lower his hand.

"Right," he said awkwardly, looking at the middle of the saddle, "Well, when I pointed in front of me when we were sitting on the bison's head, you said I was right, so we're going that-"

"Appa."

"What?"

"It's not 'bison', it's Appa."

He blinked a few times at her in confusion before putting his hand in his neck. "Right. Uh, anyway, we're going that way I pointed to earlier."

Toph sighed as she put her hand on her forehead, the chance that they were flying the wrong way was pretty big, and she hadn't come with him to get lost. She tried to think of solutions to keep them from getting lost when an idea struck her. Her face lighted up in a glance.

"Do you know the Cave of Two Lovers?"

"Of course I do, I used to sing the song all the time."

He quickly knew his mistake right before she began giggling, her hand covering her mouth to suppress it.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said, blushing, "Just get to the point please."

"Fine," She slowly stopped giggling. "My point is, Firelord Sing-A-Song," She had no idea she was making his face completely red. "That we should land there, I have some friends who can bring us closer to my home."

"Okay," Zuko replied doubtfully, "Good plan."

"You _do_ know where the cave is, right?"

"Vaguely."

"Ough."

Toph let herself fall onto her back, only her hand holding the saddle now. She couldn't believe she'd agreed to go with him, they were going to fail finding her home, she was sure of it. All of the sudden Appa growled, and just when the firebender looked in front of him to see what was going on, he landed into the water. As Zuko's heartbeat increased a bit from the sudden movement and grabbed the saddle in his hands, Toph shouted loudly, a high tone escaping her lips. When she managed to put her arms through the hole of the edge of the saddle, Appa'd stopped moving. A frown came on her face at the realisation, she hated sitting in the saddle.

"You okay?" Zuko asked once they'd landed. "You sounded like you were going to die."

"I'm fine." she snarled, trying to prevent he'd ask her uncomfortable questions. "What happened?"

He looked over the saddle, seeing they were in the water. "I don't know. He just... stopped flying."

"Probably tired." She sighed as she moved her back against the edge of the saddle and crossed her arms. "Great."

"What?"

"We're stuck on the ocean."

**To Be Continued**


	2. Fieldtrip Chapter 2

**Fieldtrip: Chapter 2 – The Cave Of Two Lovers**

They didn't exactly know how long they were in the water already, but they did know that it was a long time. Appa didn't fly for some reason, but luckily he swam. It went slow, slower than expected, and it was possible they'd have to sleep on his back. Neither of them liked the idea, they both knew how cold it could get at night, especially on the sea. Toph shocked at the possibility and pulled her bag over her head, opening it and putting her hand in it, searching the one thing she found the most important. She drew her co-traveller's attention by doing so, who lifted an eyebrow at it.

"What are you doing?"

"I don't know for how long we're gonna be on the ocean, and the possibilty that we're gonna have to sleep on Appa's back is pretty big-"

"But, Toph, we're-"

"Uh, hello, _I_ was talking first, remember?"

"But, Toph, I just wanna say that-"

"The more you interrupt me, the more you have a chance on getting your butt kicked later."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Toph, all I wanna say is that we're nearing land!"

Her eyes grew wide as her mouth opened a bit, cleary surprised by his announcement. Right after that she closed her eyes and smiled as widely as she could.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place??" He smacked his hand against his forehead while she crawled to the front of the saddle, searching for the reins that were lying on the edge. When she'd found them, she took them in her hands and shook with them. "Appa, speed up!"

Appa growled loudly before doing what she asked him to, making her smile contently. She placed her arms on the edge of the saddle as she held the reins with one hand, her head pointed to where she thought Zuko was.

"What are you smiling about?" he asked confusedly.

"Why shouldn't I be smiling? We'll be on land in no time!" Finally she'd be able to see again.

"I don't think we'll be there soon."

"What do you mean?" She sat up straight as she put her hands next to her body onto the saddle. "You just said we're nearing land!"

"We _are_ nearing land, it's just... far away."

"How far?"

He put his hand in his neck as he avoided her eyes. "An hour," he mumbled, "Or two."

"Two hours??" Toph yelled, hitting the saddle with her fists.

Zuko coughed awkwardly while he tried to laugh it away, too bad he didn't know who he was dealing with yet.

"Come on," he began, trying to prevent things from getting worse, "That means we'll have plenty of time to... get to know each other?"

"Pfuh, yeah right." She began searching in her bag again. "I'm gonna take a nap, I'm tired."

With a weird look on his face, he looked at the sky, seeing the sun standing high. "B-But it's past noon, how can you be tired?"

Without giving him an answer – but giving him an angry look – she pulled her blanket out of her bag, throwing it over her and holding the bag in one hand. She let go of the reins as she moved the hand who held them first to her bag and dragged it under her head, using it as a pillow. She rudely turned around, her back facing him and leaving him by himself. He sighed. What did he have to do now?

For an hour he'd been trying to start a conversation with Appa, but every time he asked something and the beast growled back, he couldn't understand him. How on earth did Aang manage to talk with him?

"So, you and the lemur are pretty good friends, huh?" he asked, getting a growl in return.

The only thing he could make up out of the growl was that he wasn't pleased. He figured he was angry because of the fact he said 'the lemur' instead of the lemur's name. But he'd always had a little trouble with remembering names of animals, probably because he never had a pet himself.

He moved his head to the right a bit to see if they weren't getting closer to the land yet, his eyes widened as he saw the mountain. There was no way they were going to be able to just step on it, even if Appa had six giant legs that could crawl. They'd have to fly, there was no other option. There he had a problem. He didn't know how to make the bison fly. He'd forgotten those two simple words.

"Shoot, what was it," he asked himself, putting his hand on his head, "Just two words, that's all you had to remember!"

He punched himself on the head with his fist, his eyes closed and a frown on his face. Doing that wasn't really helping. He growled softly while hating himself for not being able to remember two little words. In fact, he only had to remember _one_ word, because that word was said _twice_. He opened his eyes before placing his right arm onto the edge of the saddle, his other arm next to his body.

"Two words, two words..." he repeated against himself, hoping for a miracle. "Come on, Zuko, you're the Firelord, you should know it! Okay, was it 'yoop yoop'?" Appa growled. "I guess that's a no. 'Jump jump'?" He growled again. "How about 'meat meat'?" Instead of growling, Appa lifted his tail, ready to strike him. "Okay, okay, no meat!" Zuko almost shouted, backing away to the front of the saddle.

He softly touched Toph's forehead and yelled in shock, crawling away from her immediately. After realising it was only Toph, he wondered something. Couldn't he just wake her up and ask it? _"The more you interrupt me, the more you have a chance on getting your butt kicked later." _That familiar sentence made him stop wondering instantly. There was no way he was going to risk getting his butt kicked by an angry earthbender just because he woke her up to ask what those two little words were. He had to find out himself.

"Think, Zuko," he said to himself, placing him with his back against the back of the saddle. "It's probably something stupid, something you wouldn't think of." He shocked. "I know! It's 'ching ching', isn't it??" Appa growled again, though now it seemed to sound like laughter. "I give up." Zuko sighed, leaning backwards with his head. It was when the six-legged bison growled again that he jumped onto his feet, his hands clinged together. "Don't taunt me! It's not _my_ fault I can't remember 'yip yip'!"

Appa splashed in the water with his tail as he started to shake. The Firelord shocked as he realised what was going on and immediately looked at his sleeping friend. He rememberd how scared she'd seemed when Appa simply landed, her reaction now would be way worse. So as the giant beast started to lift off, Zuko jumped onto his friend, putting his arm around her stomac and pushing her against him.

"What's going on??" Toph yelled, panicking. "Get off me!"

Appa started running on the water for just a few seconds before he jumped and started to fly, making the blind girl shout. She'd grabbed her friend's shirt and put her head against his chest, a scared look on her face. He pressed her tighter against her as he tried to hold on to the saddle as well, trying to keep them from falling off. The sudden movement that had to be made to be able to fly caused the blanket to fly away, off the saddle, off Appa, into the water.

"My blanket!" Toph panicked, going after it with her hand.

She wasn't able to grab her blanket, and she started to shiver. Being in the sky again after a while made her realise how cold it was there. Once Zuko let go off her she embraced herself, trying to get warm. To take her mind off the fact she was cold, she turned her head to the firebender.

"Why did you jump on me?"

"I didn't _jump_ on you," the Firelord replied fiercly, "I _protected_ you."

She sighed and decided to play along. "Whatever, then why did you _protect_ me?"

"The bison-I mean Appa was about to fly and I remembered how much you yelled when we landed into the ocean, so I thought I'd protect you so you wouldn't get scared and-"

"Whoa there, Lordy, you thought I'd get _scared_?"

He stared at the blind girl in front of him before opening his mouth. "No..."

"You thought I'd get scared!"

"Getting scared isn't a bad thing!"

She blew up a few bangs of her as she turned her head away from him. There was no way he was going to be able to make up for thinking she'd get scared. He was right though, but still. The cold wind passed her skin and made her shiver more, which Zuko noticed. He probably wasn't allowed to say something to her again, but he didn't care. He didn't want her to be cold just because she didn't want him to talk to her.

"You cold?" he asked.

"No, I'm always shivering when I'm warm."

He ignored her sarcastic answer and took his shirt in his hands. "I could give you my shirt if you want."

She shocked before turning her head to his again, an eyebrow lifted. "Why would I want your shirt?"

"I didn't bring a blanket for myself."

"Then that's _your_ problem." she snapped.

"No, it's _yours_," he replied, growing sick of her way of treating him, "Why can't you just think of it as a compliment that I didn't want you to be afraid? Are you always like this?"

She frowned. "Like how?"

"Rude." Her frown deepened, but he didn't care. "And mean. I was just trying to be kind, and I'm trying to be kind again, but if you keep being angry for nothing, fine, then be angry."

Toph looked angrily away, though she felt a little guilty. She sighed heavily before outstretching her arm. "Give it."

Zuko smiled. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Just give me the thing before I change my mind."

With a content expression on his face, he put his arms through his sleeves and pulled his shirt over his head, keeping it in his hands instead of giving it to her.

"Well?" she asked impatiently.

"Lift your arms."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not asking twice."

With an annoyed look on her face she did what he asked – or demanded – her to do, getting his shirt pulled over her right away. She was slightly surprised at the sudden touch, but the warmth of his shirt made her smile. Having a firebender with her wasn't as bad as she thought first.

"Thanks." she said quietly, hoping he wouldn't hear it. Of course, he did. "Are we almost there yet?"

"Yeah, we're getting clo-"

He'd turned around onto his knees and was looking down. He saw earth underneath them, but didn't see the mountain he thought he'd see. It was when he looked to the right that he saw their destination. He slowly turned back to Toph, whose face was serious.

"We passed it, didn't we?"

"Well..."

"This fieldtrip is _so_ much fun!" she yelled happily.

Zuko'd always wondered how sarcastic a person could be, and from that moment on he knew it.

After they both tried to make Appa turn around by pulling the reins as hard as they could and almost landing into the ocean again, they'd finally arrived at the cave. Toph jumped off the bison as fast as she could, kissing the ground and caressed it lovingly. Her eyes shot open when she remembered she wasn't alone, and the company that was with her didn't really know her well, meaning she wasn't giving him good impressions of her. According to her then.

"You're making my shirt dirty."

She quickly got onto her feet as she turned around, a wide and uncomfortable smile on her face while her hand scratched the back of her neck. It was then he noticed how small she was. His shirt almost reached her knees.

"Heh, sorry."

Knowing that she would get angry again if he asked anything about what she was doing, he passed her and lifted his head to read the words that were written above an opening in the mountain. _The Cave of Two Lovers._ Toph stopped next to him with a frown on her face.

"We're at the exit."

Zuko looked surprisedly down at her. "What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Just trust me." She sighed. "I guess my friends will have to bring us through the cave first."

She took a few steps forward before she stamped her right foot on the ground, making the ground quake. When the quaking stopped and everything went silent, her companion looked at the exit of the cave, waiting for anything to happen. He was holding his breath, preparing himself for the worst.

"Wait," He suddenly realised something. "What about Appa?"

The blind girl grinned at his realisation, she knew exactly what Aang's bison was going to do. Two seconds after the Firelord had mentioned it, two giant openings were made next to the exit, two badger moles coming from each opening. As the firebender shouted loudly and fell over, Appa growled and flew away. Toph's grin only widened before she ran to the mole on the left and hugged it.

"Don't worry," she said, "It's not you guys. It's them."

**To Be Continued**


	3. Fieldtrip Chapter 3

**Fieldtrip: Chapter 3 – Next Step In Friendship**

Zuko got onto his feet and rubbed his back, a painful expression on his face. A faint sound in the sky made him look up behind him, seeing Appa flying away. His eyes widened before he turned to Toph, panick all over him. When he opened his mouth to tell her what was going on he got her hand on his lips. Her _dirty_ hand.

"He's just going back to Aang," she said, "He always goes back to him." He licked her hand, and surprisingly enough, she didn't back down. She even grinned. "That won't work."

She slowly removed her hand from his mouth, and right after she'd done that, he spit a few times to get the dirt off his tongue. The flavor had already infected him though. When he seemed to get back to earth again and saw the two giant creatures – that were even bigger than Appa – in front of him, he swallowed loudly. Hopefully they weren't into meat.

"Firelord Sing-A-Song, badger moles," Toph said with a smile, "Badger moles, Firelord Sing-A-Song." She felt Zuko's heartbeat quickening. "Better known as Firelord Zuko."

"Uh... Hi."

Before Zuko knew it, a giant tongue licked him, making him completely wet. He made an _ugh_-sound when he was lifted of the ground for a second when the tongue touched him, and when he was back on the ground again, he had a disgusted look on his face. Sadly enough, he'd just found a more disgusting tongue than Aang's bison. His blind friend grinned widely, but he tried to ignore it by focusing on the moles.

"So, how does this work?"

All the sudden the badger mole that hadn't licked him bended him from the ground and made him fly through the air. He shouted loudly, clearly scared, and landed onto the beast's back, only his butt was pointed to the mole's head. He was too weak from the surprisingly rough bending, and so he remained outstretched on his stomac onto the badger mole's hairy back, his face pointed to the back. It didn't take Toph long to jump onto her other friend's back, that grin still on her face. She softly pushed her heels in his fur, and after making the most unusual sound, both animals turned around and walked into the tunnel, Zuko letting out a semi-girly yell. For The Blind Bandit, things were going to be a lot of fun.

Since the metalbender of the two didn't need any light – although she literally couldn't see a thing, she wasn't touching the ground – the firebender had created a little bit of fire in his palms, trying not to make it too big and scare their transport. If they would fall off and their transport would flee, they would be lost. He knew the curse of the cave all too well, the ones who didn't were probably the most stupid people alive. The cave seemed to be small, but the Firelord guessed that was because he was sitting on a giant mole and that he was pretty tall. The fact that he started to sweat wasn't an encouragement either. He looked around a bit and saw he almost had to duck to be able to go any further, luckily he didn't need to do that. Yet. It wouldn't last that long anymore.

"Hey, tough guy," Toph yelled, "You doing okay?"

"I'm doing fine." Zuko growled, looking back at his friend.

He shocked and looked down at the badger mole when he growled, he seemed to be angry.

"He's saying you have to duck!"

"W-What?" He seemed to have gone deaf because of the shock of the sudden sound.

"You have to duck!"

He turned around again and saw a slightly frightened look on her face. "I have to what?"

The badger mole growled again, and just when he turned around to look in front of him to see what was going on, his face hit one of the rocks that was sticking out. He grunted and fell off his carrier, things went black for him, literally. Because he had fallen down he'd stopped firebending too. He groaned loudly at the feeling of his back, he surely hadn't fallen on a good spot.

"You guys go, we'll be okay." he heard Toph say.

The earth moved fiercly, meaning the badger moles were leaving. Zuko looked around anxiously, the darkness surrounding him. He didn't hear a thing, not even the footsteps of his friend.

"Toph? Are you still here?" He swallowed. "Toph?"

Instead of getting an answer, he got pushed off the ground pretty roughly, the earth underneath him holding him up. He groaned again, the pain in his back increasing. His eyes shot open and he slowly put his hand on his back. The pain had vanished. Was it because of the help of the ground? To see if his friend wasn't standing near him, he made a flame in his right hand and held his hand up.

"Gee, Zuko, you're a real cry baby."

His heart skipped a beat at the voice that came from behind him before he turned around, his heartbeat going faster than normal. He sweated again, and this time it was because he was afraid. He started to calm down slowly when he saw his blind friend grinning at him, she seemed to enjoy every little bit of what was going on. He didn't care that she was amused though, at least he wasn't alone.

"You sent the moles away?"

"Yup."

"You do know the way out, right?"

"You mean the way in."

"Huh?"

"We just came from the way out," she explained, pointing behind her, "We're going to the way in. To get out."

He shook his head as if coming back to earth again. "I'm sorry, I didn't listen to a word you just said."

That comment earned him a punch in the stomac, it was clear that _that_ punch didn't have anything to do with showing affection. Hopefully those punches wouldn't become repetitive. As long as he didn't comment, he figured, he'd be safe from those punches. The pain in his stomac reminded him of the pain he'd felt in his back, and how it had suddenly disappeared.

"Wait," he said, rubbing his stomac a bit, "Did you heal my back?"

Toph snorted loudly before passing him by and sending an echo through the cave. That was a clear no, yet there had to be an explanation for the sudden healing of his back. He was sure she'd done it, but he didn't feel like getting punched again. So he simply followed her, letting her lead the way. She knew where the exit was – or the entrance – and if she didn't... He'd rather not think about what could happen if she didn't.

Every time she'd led them to a dead end, she bended the earth away, making a new path for them. No matter how much she bended, they kept bumping into more earth that blocked their way. She'd been earthbending for a little while now, and it was obvious that she was getting tired. Even Zuko was getting tired, holding up his hand and bending a little fire became a hard job to do. He let out a frustrated sigh to draw her attention, which he managed to do. Toph turned to him with a frown on her face, she seemed to be annoyed. And for some reason, he didn't think _he_ was the one annoying her.

"If you wanna stop bending then stop, you won't hear me complaining."

"I'd love to stop, but... then I couldn't see a thing anymore."

"You think _I_ ever saw a thing?" She pointed to her eyes.

He gulped. "N-No, I guess not."

"You _guess_ not?" she asked him, walking towards him and getting onto her toes.

"I _know_ not!" he corrected himself. Why was he afraid of a girl who barely reached his shoulders?

"Good." She turned around and sent a big amount of earth away again.

"Wait!" She stopped, her hands clinged together. Instead of backing down, he just put out his fire. "Could you... Could you hold my hand?"

With wide open eyes she turned to him again, had she heard it right? "Come again?"

"I know it's a little awkward and weird, especially because we don't really know each other, but..." He outstretched his arm in front of him and opened his hand. "I could use some help in the dark."

Toph was glad he couldn't see the smile on her face when she took his hand. From the moment she touched him, his skin felt so rough yet soft, but the thing that impressed her the most was how big his hand was. Or her hand was just incredibly small. She shook her head, that wasn't possible.

"Thanks."

She sighed as if she were bored. "I know, I'm great."

They continued walking in complete darkness, the speed of Zuko's breath and heartbeat made the blind girl smile. She didn't say anything about it though, she figured he didn't need her teasing him now, since he had the darkness to deal with.

"Hey, Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know the way out, right?" Her muscles tightened, and so did the grip on his hand. He didn't seem to notice though. "I mean, we've been walking for quite some time now."

"What is it," she almost snapped, "You getting tired already?"

"No." She was disappointed when she felt he wasn't lying. Crud. "But _you_ are."

She stopped instantly and let go of his hand, he didn't seem to know what he was and wasn't allowed to say to her. She almost didn't notice Zuko stopping just in front of her. She barely felt the increase of his heartbeat, meaning he was nervous and probably afraid. He turned around fastly and she meant he was about to fall on his knees and beg for her forgiveness. Luckily he didn't.

"Toph, I-I didn't mean to offend you, really!"

She clinged her hands together as the frown on her face became deeper each second. She was shaking of anger, and for some reason the anger didn't seem to be towards the Firelord. He was just with her at the wrong time.

"Toph?"

Right then, something inside her snapped. But what? "You know what," Toph began, "You're right." She heard him gasping softly. "I _am_ getting tired. And you know why?" He didn't answer. "Because everyone's always asking _me_ for help. Toph, can you bend me up a bit? Toph, do you want to help me cooking? Toph, can you hand me the soap? Toph, can you _hold my hand_?" He swallowed. "Toph, can you help me with chosing clothes? Oops, sorry, Toph! Guess I didn't really care about your feelings, nor do I care about your needs! As long as you help _me_, I find it unnecessary to talk to you about anything decent! Everyone needs me, and when I need _them_, they're too lazy to even notice it! So yes, I _am_ getting tired, do you mind??"

She panted as a drip rolled down from the side of her head. Even though he couldn't see her, he was scared to death. Yet he didn't back down. When he heard a thud, he lightened up the space around him once again. His eyes widened as he saw the tiny girl he found so strong sitting onto the ground with her knees. Her hands were crunching the earth underneath her, and her face was pointed to it too. Zuko saw through her bangs that she was trying not to cry, and in some way she looked so small in that big shirt of his. He sighed. The things she'd been through, the friendship she'd missed, it was all so sad. He wanted to make it up to her, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. He just felt it was time something had to be done. He knelt to the ground and lowered his hands to see her a bit better.

"I don't know what happened, or, didn't happen... But I'm gonna make it up to you." He put his hand on hers and gave it an encouraging pinch. "Hey, come on." He smiled. "Where's that grin of yours?" She sniffed. "If I tell something that's happened to me and you can make fun of me, will you be happy again?"

She seemed to wipe away a tear with the back of her free hand. "Depends."

He placed his hand on his knee. "I fell into the feed box with meat once and a cow-hippo started chewing on my ear, he even ate a piece of it."

He waited patiently for her answer. "So... Your ear's incomplete?"

"That's right."

"Let me feel it!" she yelled, grabbing for his ears.

"No, wait!"

She pressed her hands on both of his ears with a wide smile, which disappeared soon. Her eyes widened in an instant and she seemed to stiffen. Zuko's eyes were standing wider than Toph's – if that was even possible – and in a flash he remembered Katara touching his scar, only didn't it feel comforting at all. He stopped firebending and put his hands around her wrists, gosh was he trembling. In one movement he pulled her hands off his face, he didn't let go of her though.

She opened her mouth incredibly slowly, and for a moment she didn't seem to live. She swallowed roughly and opened her mouth again.

"What _is_ that?"

"A scar." His voice sounded extremely hoarse.

"_How?_" she asked, clearly trying to find an answer.

"Training accident."

He got up, pulling her up by doing so, and started walking again, creating some fire in his right hand. He didn't say any other thing, he didn't wait for his friend to make sure she was okay, he just walked. He didn't realise she was struggling on the inside, she felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that he'd lied to her. Eventually she decided to focus on getting out, she would talk about it with him later. She ran towards the Firelord with a grin on her face and waved in the air.

"Hey, Zuko! You're going the wrong way!"

**To Be Continued**


	4. Fieldtrip Chapter 4

**Fieldtrip: Chapter 4 – One Step At A Time**

After Toph had showed her friend the right path, neither of them had said a word. They'd just been walking without saying a thing, every step they took seemed to have an echo. The more steps they took, the more silence filled the space between them. It wasn't an awkward silence though, it was a normal one. They didn't have anything to say to each other, and they didn't really mind that. From time to time they had to stop for a few seconds, then it was the earthbender's turn to bend away the rocks. Moving giant rocks didn't seem to be any problem to her. Zuko was glad that she didn't complain about having to do it though, the things she'd shouted at him had made him feel sorry for her, yet he couldn't stop himself from getting a little scared.

He slid the back of his hand over his forehead, removing the tiny drips of sweat, using his other hand to look a little further into the cave. Hopefully they wouldn't have to walk much longer, his legs were getting tired.

"You need your shirt back?"

He shocked at the unexpected question before looking down at Toph, a confused expression on his face.

"Why, you're not cold anymore?"

She shook her head. "I just thought you'd want it back, since it's possible that _you're_ cold."

Zuko smiled at her, she was kinda sweet. "You keep my shirt," he replied, "I'm not cold."

"But... your chest's completely uncovered."

"So? I'm a firebender, I'm never cold."

"Never?"

He laughed quietly. "Never."

"Then that's a bet."

"A bet?" he asked, an eyebrow lifted.

"Yeah," They stopped so she could bend the earth out of their way. "I bet that you're _not_ never cold."

"Oh, do you?" He smirked.

"Yup, I do."

"Okay, I'm in. If _I _win, you'll have to wear a dress for three entire days when we're back in the Fire Nation." His smirk only grew. "A pink one."

"And if _I_ win?"

"Then I'll massage your feet."

"While wearing a pink dress. Plus, I want you to wear two ponytails."

"Ponytails?"

"What, you getting scared, Lordy?"

"I'll do it if you wear your hair loose."

Toph stopped and turned to Zuko, who did the same. She outstretched her arm and held out an open hand, ready to be shaken.

"Deal!" she said with a wide smile on her face.

He doubted a little before smiling back at her and shaking her hand. "Deal."

After shaking hands, Toph kicked in front of her, sending a big amount of boulders backwards. The Firelord had to cover his eyes because of the sudden light that came to his face. Both of them walked forward, and a few fast steps later, they were out of the cave. Neither of them bended anymore, no light was needed and rocks didn't have to be moved anymore.

The fact that they'd been walking for a while was obvious, shadows had become bigger because of the sun's movement. When they passed some kind of forest, they only had to look at each other to know they wanted to sit down. They also needed to be out of the sun for a while, walking in a cave had made them sweat. So they sat down with their backs against a tree, legs open a bit and stretched completely. They let out a content sigh as they closed their eyes and let the coolness come over them, enjoying every little bit of it. They weren't sitting in the shadow for a minute, and Zuko opened his eyes again, noticing some kind of river in front of him and his companion. And, even though he wanted to rest, he got onto his feet and ran towards the river. Just before he got in he stopped, removing his boots and pants as fast as he could. When he was about to jump in, he took a look behind him and saw Toph still sitting there, her hands behind her head and her knee lying on top of her other bent leg. With a friendly smile on his face he went back to his friend, hoping she'd join him.

"Hey, Toph, would you like-"

"If you're about to ask me if I wanna swim with you, remember that I'm _blind_ and can only see when I touch the _ground_." The Blind Bandit replied, pointing to her eyes.

The firebender blinked a few times in confusion before shaking his head. "Uh, no!" he said loudly before what she'd said made him think. "Wait, _why _don't you wanna swim?"

"Uh, hello! Didn't I just say that?"

"You can see if you don't go too deep."

"The water makes everything look blurry."

Zuko shocked before smirking. "You can't swim."

She stopped breathing for a moment, making his smirk widen. "What??" she yelled after a moment. "I _can_ swim! I... just don't feel like it now."

"Come on."

"Come on what?"

"I'll learn you."

She laughed. "No, you won't."

He leaned over and grabbed her wrist, trying to pull her up. Almost automatically did she put her hand in the earth underneath her and held onto it. He started pulling harder, not realizing he was hurting her. She could _feel_ her arm getting red, but she didn't say a word about it. Literally. Instead of yelling at him, she eventually bended a pole into his chest – it reminded her of what had happened in that forest at the Western Air Temple – and made him fall into the water. She waited a few seconds as she tried to feel him, but it seemed he was floating in the water, which annoyed her a bit. After those seconds she started panicking a bit, but decided to wait a little longer. Two seconds later she got onto her feet, her eyes wide.

"Zuko?" she asked loudly. No response came, and her heartbeat increased. "Zuko??"

She ran as fast as she could towards the water, stopping right in front of it. What did she do now? Jump in the water and risk to drown or don't jump and risk that her friend drowns?

He coughed loudly, feeling some water coming out of his throat. He seemed to be lying on the ground, and so sat up straight. He had a little trouble with breathing, yet that didn't stop him from getting up. He looked around, searching for his friend. The sound of splashing water drew his attention, and when he looked at the river, he saw Toph standing in it. His eyes widened.

"I can't see you that well, Lordy, but that doesn't mean I don't know you're awake!" She nodded him. "Now get in the water before I change my mind!"

Without any doubt he ran towards her and jumped in the water, it felt so refreshing. It was exactly what he needed. When he came up again, he saw her holding a rock with a scared look on her face. With a soft laugh he swam towards her, taking her hand.

"Come on, it'll be okay."

Slowly she turned to him and searched for his other hand with her free one, which he grabbed instantly. She looked so scared and helpless, and for a reason he liked seeing her like that. It reminded him of the fact that she too was a normal human being, and afraid like everyone else was from time to time. He shocked when he noticed she wasn't wearing her hair in that tight bun anymore, it was floating freely on the water. He shook his head to prevent himself from thinking she was the most beautiful creature on earth, she was only twelve!

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"N-Nothing!"

She let out a sigh. "Should I put my hair into a bun again?"

"No! It's just... weird to see you like this."

"Like how? Almost undressed or with my hair loose?"

He suddenly saw she was only in her undergarments and realized how extremely weird it had to be if anyone would pass them by and see them. He didn't dare to imagine what people would think of them, of _him_.

"Uh..." All he wanted to do now was run out of the water with her under his arm and cover her up with towels once they were out. "Your hair."

Her grin made him nervous, and he thought she'd comment on his answer, but instead, she held his hands tighter and came a little closer to him.

"So, how do I begin?"

Relieved that she didn't say anything on his doubtful reply, Zuko smiled at her before putting his arm on her stomac, surprising her slightly. He turned her onto her stomac as slow as he could, telling her to stay calm. He informed her that if she wanted to swim, she had to lay on her stomac. Of course she could also lay on her back, but he kept that for later. Once she was lying horizontally on the water, thanks to him, he explained her what she had to do with her legs. He said she had to act like a badger frog, and he was sure she knew all too well how a badger frog acted like. There'd been enough in the Western Air Temple.

"Do I have to?" Toph complained, blushing of embarrassement already.

"No," her teacher shrugged, "But that means I'm letting go of you."

While grumbling "Stupid Water Chick with his stupid blackmailing so I would make myself ridiculous.", the blind girl eventually started moving her legs the way she was told to. Much to his surprise, she got the move right away. There was nothing wrong with her movement, even her toes seemed to be standing perfectly. He started to turn around as slowly as possible, just to give her an idea of how swimming could feel like. When he stopped, she gave him a surprised and maybe even sad look.

"You should move your arms too."

"B-But then you have to... let me go."

He smiled at her. "Don't worry, Bandit, I'll make sure you don't drown."

After doubtfully looking at him, she pointed her eyes in front of her again. He carefully let her hand go and placed his own on her stomac, next to his other one. He heard Toph gasp softly, wisely chose to ignore it and told her to stretch her arms in front of her, open them like she'd done with her legs and let her hands come together at her chest.

"Like this?" she asked him, doing what he'd explained her to do.

The only thing Zuko could do was nod, amazed at how fast she learned something she'd never done before. To avoid he had to answer her question with words, he turned around again, carrying her on his hands. All the sudden, his talented friend sneezed, shocking him and almost making her slip away from him. As fast as she could, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing herself tightly against him. The yell she'd let out still echoed in his head, but the shivering of his friend made him come back to earth again. He could only see her back, and if he would turn to face her they would be way too close to each other. She put her legs around his waist and hooked her feet on to each other once they reached his back.

"Toph, it's okay, you're in-"

"If you dare to let me go one more time, mister, you'll regret it!"

"But Toph-"

"Shush up and hold me before I fall in the water!"

He quickly wrapped his arms around her, noticing how slim she was compared to anyone else, and smiled. He softly patted her back as he kept saying everything was alright and that she wasn't about to die. He knew it didn't really help, but he felt he had to say something.

She was sitting on the ground with his towel wrapped around her, still shivering a bit from the shock. Zuko looked at her with a smile on his face, glad he had his pants back on. Toph sighed.

"Fine, next time I'll try."

"Try what?" he asked, surprised.

"To swim alone, what else?"

His smile widened. "You don't have to if you don't want to." He leaned over to her and put his hand on her head. "One step at a time, Swimming Queen, one step at a time."

He wanted to tell her that earlier, she could easily touch the ground. Somehow, that didn't seem too appropriate, so he decided to tell her some other time. Or not at all. As he studied her eyes, he wondered what the next adventure would be. As long as she was with him, he didn't care.

**To Be Continued**


End file.
